Research News

University researchers have found a naturally occurring compound, known as hydroquinine, has bacterial killing activity against several microorganisms.

Antimicrobial resistance has become one of the greatest threats to public health globally. It occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, making it difficult to treat infections. Because of this, there is a pressing need for the development of new antimicrobial drugs to combat infections.

Preeclampsia is a condition that affects the placenta during pregnancy and is dangerous for both the fetus and the mother. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm and the CNRS have proposed a new therapy, tested in two rodent models, that corrects the defects identified in placental cells, and restores placental and fetal weight. The treatment successfully lowers blood pressure in the mother and resolves the characteristic preeclampsia symptoms of excess protein in urine and cardiovascular abnormalities.

Are would-be parents carrying a genetic risk of serious illnesses that they could potentially pass on to their children? In the USA, doctors recommend that couples have genetic screening before trying to conceive. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now shown that a maximal variant of this test detects the risk in 44 percent of couples who are related by blood, and in just 5 percent of other couples. Non-hereditary newly acquired mutations are a major reason for the reduced detection rate in the latter.

Young people living with a genetic alteration that increases the risk of psychiatric disorders have markedly different brain activity during sleep, a study led by researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Cardiff published today in eLife shows.

The brain activity patterns during sleep shed light on the neurobiology behind a genetic condition called 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS) and could be used as a biomarker to detect the onset of neuropsychiatric disorders in people with 22q11.2DS.

Soon India will get its first made in India vaccine against cervical cancer which is developed by Serum Institute of India (SII) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). The daid vaccine is Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV).

Zydus Lifesciences initiates Phase IV clinical trial for Desidustat in patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) induced anemia.

Desidustat sold under a brand name Oxemia which is a prescription drug approved in India for patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) induced anemia, and can be taken only under the advice and guidance of a Nephrologist or an internal medicine specialist.

Heart attacks in women are more likely to be fatal than in men. The reasons are differences in age and in comorbidity burden which makes risk assessment in women a challenge. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now developed a novel artificial-intelligence-based risk score that improves personalized care for female patients with heart attacks.

A study of mice found that dietary sugar alters the gut microbiome, setting off a chain of events that leads to metabolic disease, pre-diabetes, and weight gain.

The findings, published today in Cell(link is external and opens in a new window), suggest that diet matters, but an optimal microbiome is equally important for the prevention of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and obesity.
Diet alters microbiome.

A three-drug medication known as a polypill, developed by the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) and Ferrer, is effective in preventing secondary adverse cardiovascular events in people who have previously had a heart attack, reducing cardiovascular mortality by 33 percent in this patient population.  These are findings from the SECURE trial led by Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital, and General Director of CNIC.